


Day 341

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [341]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:42:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27943973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [341]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 341

Gomes was torn between hope and despair. He had thought rescue was at hand yesterday when the templars had stormed the base of the blood mages and started rescuing the other slaves. He had been within reach of a templar when she had been melted by acid and his handler had pulled him through one of the secret escape tunnels his own hands had been used to build.

When the mage had grown tired of running Gomes’s arms had picked the man up and carried him the rest of the way. Now they were in yet another hole the mage hoped was unknown to the templars. Gomes was hoping otherwise.

It had been so long since Gomes had seen his family. So long since he had kissed his wife or heard his daughter’s laugh. If he ever got out of here, he would take them far away from Kirkwall. To a place with few templars and fewer mages. Before his capture he had almost felt sorry for the mages. They were locked away from the rest of the world and they had to constantly fear monsters out of their worst nightmares. After spending… he didn’t know how long, as a prisoner in his own body, he felt only abhorrence. No one should have this power over others.

“The Champion is coming this way,” another mage was here now. An elf, and she looked positively terrified. Gomes would have smiled if he could. The human mage furrowed his brow but managed to keep calm.

“Is he alone?” he asked. The elf nodded.

“They seem to be fanning out to sweep a wider area. The others are going in pairs but the Champion had only a mabari with him.”

“Don’t underestimate the mabari,” said Gomes’s handler. “They drove the magisters from Ferelden over a thousand years ago. The Champion is rumored to be the most powerful mage since the Sidereal. Our only chance is to come at him fast and kill him before he can bring his magic to bear.”

Gomes knew what that meant. Lyrium was expensive but blood was cheap. Especially the blood of people like him that didn’t matter to these mages. He had a strong body forged from long years of hard work. Work he had told himself would be worth it, even if it caused him constant pain. So long as he was able to provide for his family he endured. It had kept him alive these past few months as well. Many others had been worked to death by the mages, their bodies giving out under the strain. Not Gomes though, he had endured everything he was forced to do. The thought of being able to see his family again, to let them know that he had not meant to abandon them, that he still cared for them, these thoughts had kept him alive… until now.

The knife was sharp and the pain slight compared to the agony that had been the norm of his life. Four incisions where his arms and legs met his torso, the better to access his blood quickly.

The Champion burst through the door and the mages attacked. They threw everything they had at the Champion and barely even phased him. Gomes’s last sacrifice hadn’t even made a difference for his captors. That shouldn’t have mattered to him but it still stung that all the power in his body had been of no use whatsoever.

The magical energy of the Champion washed over him, it smelled like his wife’s perfume and sounded like his daughter’s laugh. The first act he was able to take under his own power in months was to smile at the memories these gave him. Then he embraced the peace the darkness brought.


End file.
